Segway Inc.

Segway Inc. is a Chinese-owned, formerly American manufacturer of two-wheeled personal transporters, best known for the Segway PT. The inventor Dean Kamen founded it in July 1999 to develop non-medical uses of the self-balancing technology first used in his iBOT wheelchair, and the PT was launched in December 2001. It was headquartered in Bedford, New Hampshire, and sold mainly to police departments, military bases, warehouses and campuses. Sales were far below early forecasts, with about 23,500 units by 2006 and over 50,000 by 2009. The company was sold to a group led by Jimi Heselden in 2009, to Summit Strategic Investments in 2013 for 9 million dollars, and to the Beijing-based Ninebot on 1 April 2015. Ninebot ended Segway PT production on 15 July 2020, and the brand now covers electric scooters, e-bikes, powersports vehicles and the Navimow robotic lawn mower.